[Primer] Horden Tendrils

[Tobi]

Primer
Horden Tendrils

Tobias Egelhof, May 2006


I.
Introduction

Since the realease of Meandeck Tendrils in February 2005 I wanted to use some time learning to play this deck and probably take it to a tournament. Fall 2005 I finally found time, read the primers (http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=8825 http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=8884, http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=8929), Justin Walter's tournament report (http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=21540) and started the goldfishing. After about 500 games I managed to touch the 65% first turn kill ratio team Meandeck was proclaiming. In testing with my teammates it showed that 65% is not enough and that a timely Force of Will not just stops your run, but leaves you with so few resources that you have practically no chance of coming back again before your opponent either wins or locks you down.
But Meandeck Tendrils is a fascinating deck, and since then the theory behind it (play 9 spells in a row followed by Tendrils of Agony) followed me wherever I went in my search for fast and resiliant combo.

My first stop was a mono black list featuring Infernal Contract. It had some elements from Meandeck Tendrils, but a more stable manabase and at least some disruption in form of Duress. The gameplan moved from the original straight Tendrils strategy more to asymetrical card draw combined with destruction of opponents hands by duressing or getting him to force. The Tendrils kill of course remained, but the deck became less dependent on the number of cards in hand, since a single Contract could bring you back to the storm road.
The sideboard contained a transformational Oath strategy to dodge storm hate.
Taking the metagame by surprise and with some luck I placed second in that tournament. Here is the report for reference: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=25381.0

After the first success I started to work on the decklist and included blue, which added Brainstorm, Ancestral Recall and bounce spells making it significantly stronger. The main strategy remained the same.
The people were not surprised anymore, but still not prepaired enough. I won the following tournament: http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=26019.0

The deck was performing well, but I felt Duress to be a not good enough disruption sometimes. It disabled first turn kills by eating the one black mana that was needed to win. The decision often came down to playing first turn Duress or go and try for first turn win, hoping the opponent has no Force. In some matchups even the first turn Duress was not enough, since the opponent could use his turn to build up again or even negate the effect of Duress by brainstorming.

The solution was replacing Duress with Force of Will.

Now, Force of Will, as we all know, needs your deck to sport at least 15-16 blue cards to work properly. Horden Tendrils' blue card count at that time was 7, with the Forces 11.

Next problem is: which blue cards to include?
Blue offers some very strong cards for storm combo (Timetwister, Tinker, Mind's Desire), but including those cards changed the decks' original gameplan to a more bomb driven strategy. Coincidentially, Force of Will supports this gameplan very well.

So we basically moved from "first turn Duress, second turn Contract" to "first turn bomb with Force backup".

I cannot tell yet, which strategy is the better one, though I feel the version with the Forces to be stronger. The deck performed well for me in all of it's incarnations, with only one loss in 4 straight tournaments. Probably it was because of the ever changing decklist. For example, Pyrostatic Pillar would have been a problem with the earliest versions, but I only saw it against the latest list, which had no problems with it. In the beginning people did not play Pillar as combo wasn't seen much. This changed, as did the usage of Pillar. Not changing the decklist would have been fatal.

The deck with Force of Will took me to a second place in the following Karlsruhe tournament. It just did what it had to do and I was very happy with it.
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=27876.0

With some minor modifications, I played it in Hanau 2 weeks later, again placing second and losing for the first time with Horden Tendrils in the last match of the day, missing the tournament win and the Library of Alexandria...
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=28122.0


II.
The Decklist

Anyhow, enough talk about how we came here, let's look at the decklist. I believe, this version is the best one at the moment.


Horden Tendrils

4 Chromatic Sphere
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault
1 Memory Jar
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Mind's Desire
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Brain Freeze
4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual
3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation
1 Tolarian Academy
4 Polluted Delta
1 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp
60

Sideboard
2 Snuff Out
3 Defense Grid
2 Rebuild
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Rushing River
1 Brain Freeze
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Island
1 Swamp
15


There are some things that remained almost the same during all of the development process, and which I think are the most essential parts that define this deck:

7-8 lands
28-29 mana sources
4 copies of Tendrils (one replaced with Brain Freeze now)
4 Chromatic Sphere
8 rituals
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond


With the addition of blue as the second color, the following card choices became staples:

4 Brainstorm
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall
4 Polluted Delta
1 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp

2 Rebuild sideboard
1 Chain of Vapor sideboard
1 Hurkyl's Recall sideboard
1 Island sideboard
1 Swamp sideboard


The rest of the deck consists of the obvious cards (artifact mana, tutors, Will, Necro, Bargain) and open slots in the sideboard depending on the metagame.


III.
Card Choices

The first and most obvious question you might ask when looking at Horden Tendrils' Decklist is: Why no Grim Tutors?
The reason is: I have none.
But I think there are more reasons not to include Grim Tutors in this deck:

1. Adding Grim Tutor slows the deck down
Winning with Grim Tutor needs one more mana compared to Demonic Tutor. If going for the Yawgmoth's Will win, you will need one more mana after the Will, too. You cannot win with 1 land, Black Lotus, Dark Ritual, Grim Tutor, because after the Will you are 1 mana short of playing Tendrils. This will mostly lead to an additional turn to build up mana.

2. Grim Tutors reduce the number of Tendrils copies
There is not much to remove from the decklist except Tendrils copies. But playing 4 copies of Tendrils increases a) the chance to draw one in the opening hand or off a Brainstorm/draw-7, b) makes you less vulnerable to cards like Jester's Cap or Extract and c) increases the number of winning routes.

3. Grim Tutor makes you more vulnerable to "Yawgmoth's Will hate"
Playing more tutors will usually lead you to increase the number of games you win through Yawgmoth's Will, and therefore be more vulnerable to cards like Tormod's Crypt or any othe graveyard hate.

These reasons may not be very strong, but still can justify the exclusion of Grim Tutor to some extent. Probably, if I had Grim Tutors, I would try to fit them into the list. But up to now, I try and play without them, and yet quite successful.


Now on to the rest of the deck.

Manabase:

1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mana Vault

With the exception of Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond these are quite usual choices in a combo deck. The two "suboptimal Moxen" helped in the first lists after drawing cards with Infernal Contract to generate black mana to continue playing. Now they help to do so after draw-7s and a first turn Yawgmoth's Bargain.
Playing Mox Diamond with only 8 lands seems odd, but when aiming for 1st and second turn wins, you will often have excess lands to pitch for the Mox. Plus, it helps threshold and enables you to replay the land after Yawgmoth's Will.
Lion's Eye Diamond enables some nice moves with Chromatic Sphere and tutors, and of course with Yawgmoth's Will and draw-7s.

4 Polluted Delta
1 Underground Sea
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tolarian Academy

I never wanted to have more land maindeck, since I always tried to minimize the number of lands I draw off draw-4s and draw-7s. The ability to fetch basics has often proved to be very valuable when I need to pass a turn.
Tolarian Academy was not included initially, since it only was a conditional mana source sometimes and black mana was more important. With the increased number of blue spells, Academy's value also increased.

4 Cabal Ritual
4 Dark Ritual

Rituals are necessary to generate quick mana. Cabal Rituals are, with threshold, the only playable manasource in the game that provides 3 additional mana besides Black Lotus and LED.
Something I learned in the endless Meandeck Tendrils goldfishes is how to generate threshold before casting Cabal Ritual. This knowledge still serves me well.


Win:

3 Tendrils of Agony
1 Brain Freeze

I always loved to have numerous copies of Tendrils in my deck. Not only makes it Jester's Cap and Extract become virtually useless, it also enables me to set up various routes to victory, which would not be possible without them.
You normally don't need to worry about getting the Tendrils, since you will either draw into one or a tutor to find it.
Having two Tendrils in hand is also never too bad, since it decreases the number of spells need to win. Tendrils as the fifth and sixth spell is usually enough.
With Necropotence and Yawgmoth's Bargain, it is also often useful to cast a "small" Tendrils to continue drawing.
In the beginning I mentioned Pyrostatic Pillar. Against this card, mutiple Tendrils are also quite good.
The single Brain Freeze was added when Force of Will found it's way into the decklist. Since then it serves as alternative win condition, blue card to pitch and surprise spell against other combo. Brain Freezing the opponent after his Yawgmoth's Will in response to his Tutor is something very few players anticipate.
A second use for Brain Freeze is casting it upon yourself before Yawgmoth's Will. However, I have yet to witness such a game situation.


Utility:

4 Brainstorm

This card essentially turns a 7 cards starting hand into a 10 card hand and usually fixes the mana-spell-balance. With the CTL-tutors (card-on-top-of-library) this becomes a Demonic Tutor for UB with 2 storm.

4 Chromatic Sphere

Fixes colored mana issues, fuels Tolarian Academy and, like Brainstorm, becomes a Demonic Tutor with 2 storm with the CTL-tutors.
With LED it allows for some tricks after a Brainstorm or a tutor, placing the card you need on top of the library, breaking LED and getting the card with the Sphere.

1 Chain of Vapor
1 Hurkyl's Recall

The bounce spells serve to get rid of problematic cards the opponent may have laid, and as storm generators. The combination of the two has proved to be a good configuration for storm combo.


Tutors:

1 Mystical Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Demonic Consultation

Tutors are a natural inclusion in any combo deck. As already mentioned, the deck supports the CTL-tutors quite good.
Demonic Consultation becomes playable because of the high number of Tendrils copies. It serves various functions, getting that Ritual to increase the mana count, that Sphere to generate that one needed blue mana or that Force of Will (or Brainstorm to pitch) for the critical counter.


Disruption:

4 Force of Will

The deck is focused on a quick kill, and does not want to see too many reactive cards at all. 4 slots are usually enough disruption, and is mostly used to disrupt opponents disruption. When going off, oftentimes my opponent's counter and my Force of Will are the 2 storm that I need to win.
Duress also works well in this slot, though we found Force to be superior here.


Bombs:

1 Necropotence
1 Yawgmoth's Bargain
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
1 Tinker
1 Mind's Desire
1 Memory Jar

Each one of them can set up your win. I don't think I need to explain anything here.


Sideboard:

1 Island
1 Swamp

These two are usually sided in when I play against a deck that hates artifact mana (Stax and Fish). Out go normally Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond. This switch makes thet deck a bit slower, but more mana consistent.

2 Rebuild

Win card against Stax.

1 Hurkyl's Recall

Against Stax and Chalice set at 1.

1 Chain of Vapor

Additional help against Fish's Meddling Mages and Null Rods. Also useful against Dragon, if you happen to meet one.

3 Defense Grid

Very useful against Fish and Bird Shit, that normally sports a low number of mana sources.

1 Darksteel Colossus

Alternative win. Doesn't care about Arcane Laboratory.

1 Rushing River
1 Echoing Truth

Bounce for all sorts of problems.

2 Snuff Out

Get rid of Mages, surprise for Dragon.

1 Brain Freeze

Against other combo.


Sideboarding can be a bit tricky, since you don't have too many cards to take out for useful stuff. Normally some Chromatic Spheres, a copy of Tendrils and probably Yawgmoth's Bargain are sided out for a bunch of bounce and/or Defense Grids.


IV.
Matchup Analysis

The matchup analysis for this deck is not very extensive, since most of the time it comes down to playing around Force of Will. This can be practiced in goldfishing.
The good news is, almost everthing an opponent does to stop you first turn can be practiced in goldfishes, and you should do that a lot, if you plan to take this pile to a tournament.

Stax
The Stax matchup is sometimes tricky, but mostly consists of winning the die roll. Your best bet is to try and win first turn. Forcing his first turn threat and then win is also good. The best thing about this matchup is: you can be sure your opponent has no Force of Will! Be careful though, some of the newer Stax lists pack Stifle from the sideboard, so be sure to have that FoW ready when casting Tendrils.
Sideboarding normally is the 2 basic lands for the "bad" Moxen, the second Hurkyl's Recall for Chain of Vapor and 2 Rebuild for Tinker/Memory Jar or 2 Chromatic Spheres.
After sideboarding things look quite good if you manage to build up some mana to hold off his first lock-attempt. Rebuilding EOT and winning is a pretty standard move.

Fish/Bird Shit
First game's objective is to get around Force of Will, Daze, Meddling Mage, Null Rod and Stifle. Sounds like a lot of stuff, but in most cases this is doable somehow.
This is the matchup where you side the most cards. Out go 2 Moxen, 4 Chromatic Spheres, Bargain and one Tendrils for 2 basic lands, 3 Defense Grid and some bounce/Snuff Out.
The games are a bit slower after sideboarding, but easier with Defense Grid out.

Combo
Objective: be quicker!
Not much to sideboard here, except one Tendrils for one Brain Freeze.

Control (Mana Drain based)
This matchup is usually easier than Fish, since it centers around dodging first turn Force of Will. Most of the games you opponent will not be able to get UU online.
Duress is a problem, but a problem you have to live with. CTL-tutors help a lot.
Again, not much to sideboard here.


V.
Final Words

All I can say is, this deck is strong. As you can see, it took me through 4 straight tournaments with only one loss in the final game against massive countermagic and arcane laboratory. It may be difficult to play, and sometimes scrub out, but if you practice it a lot and learn to make the right decisions, you can have a lot of fun with it.

I would like to thank my team for the work and the ideas they put into the development of this deck, and for their patience spending hours and hours playing against first turn combo. I am sure it wasn't always fun.

I may find some time to post some sample starting hands and goldfishes involving interesting play decisions. Until then - good luck and happy storming!

[GrandpaBelcher]

I think you discuss the weakness of Grim Tutor fairly well.  I agree that it's probably relegated to just "fair" in Vintage, which is a problem when people need broken.  That said, do you see any application for Infernal Tutor (the Hellbent tutor from Dissension).  It costs two, which means it can be played off a Dark Ritual or Lotus to get Yawgmoth's Will with functional mana afterwards, but it's non-Hellbent use weakens it significantly.  Have you tested it, and what did you find?

[Moxlotus]

I can definitely see why you cut Duress.  I have always felt there is something better than Duress for disruption when playing with a bunch of draw 7s.  The anti-synergy is too much I think.  Duress is best left for tutor centric decks.

The Stax matchup is sometimes tricky, but mostly consists of winning the die roll. Your best bet is to try and win first turn.

This is what is the biggest incentive to NOT play the deck imo.  A matchup that relies pretty much on the luck of the die roll and the luck of your opening hand really sucks to have but I guess no deck can have a good game against everything.  The inability (by looking at the decklist) to play around opposing lock pieces really sucks and with only 8 land you can't sit there, play land, and bounce their shitter EOT.  I do like the 2 land in the board however--I know from IT the extra lands are actually game breakers.


I like the deck.  Interesting approach to a balls to the wall combo deck.  I see how this is a different beast than IT with its own strengths and weakness, but what about Grimlong?  Why is this deck better than Grimlong?

[Tobi]

That said, do you see any application for Infernal Tutor (the Hellbent tutor from Dissension). 

I have never tested it, but it may have it's merit. Problem is, you will need to play it as the last spell after wasting all others, which makes you vulnerable to FoW. This does not work together with yourself playing FoW, so probably you would have to get back to Duress when trying to fit in Infernal Tutor.

This is what is the biggest incentive to NOT play the deck imo.  A matchup that relies pretty much on the luck of the die roll and the luck of your opening hand really sucks to have but I guess no deck can have a good game against everything.  The inability (by looking at the decklist) to play around opposing lock pieces really sucks and with only 8 land you can't sit there, play land, and bounce their shitter EOT.  I do like the 2 land in the board however--I know from IT the extra lands are actually game breakers.

If you lose the die roll you still have the chance to FoW or play around what the Stax player presents you first turn. I think there is not much more you can do against lock decks. The 2 extra land definitively help.

Why is this deck better than Grimlong?

It probably isn't. 
But probably it is not even worse. The differences are:
- basic lands
- FoW instead of Duress
- 4 Tendrils/Brain Freeze
- less draw-7
- only 2 colors
- no Grim Tutors 
It may be less vulnerable to hate than Grim Long, and possibly has a better Stax matchup. But I never played GrimLong myself, so that's only a guess.

When writing the primer I was considering a part that covers the different approaches to combo today and what the differences are, but it was just too much. Maybe I'll do that later.

[Implacable]

I personally play GrimLong quite a bit, and I don't particularly detest my Stax matchup.  It's slightly better than this decks matchup, because I often can just play an EOT Rebuild or Hurkyl's and then go off.

[Sean Ryan]

Good work.

While I realize that in Europe most Vintage events are nonproxy, we don't have that constraint here in the U.S.  Responding to your comments about Grim Tutor, it seems logical to include them in this build if you are able to. 

IMHO, a few small changes to this list could add alot of power & consistency.  If you are siding out the suboptimal moxes in most of your matchups that should tell you something.  I would also cut the 4th Chromatic Sphere and the 4th Cabal Ritual.  The mana fixing of C.Sphere is not as crucial in a 2 color deck and Cabal Ritual is best with Threshold, so seeing more than 1 in your opening hand is not that desirable.

-2 ChromeMoxDiamond
-1 Chromatic Sphere
-1 Cabal Ritual

+2 Grimm tutor
+1 Windfall
+1 Underground Sea

By adding the extra land you make up for cutting the moxes and gain a bit of consistency.  However, I would still keep the extra basics in your SB for the Stax match up.  Grimm Tutor really can't be ignored, it's simply to powerful.  I don't think this build necessarily needs more than 2 as you run multiple Tendrils.  Windfall is just icing on the cake and really belongs here if in any deck.

Anyway, tell me what you think about running these changes in a proxy environment.

Thanks
Sean

[RThomas]

I've experimented with this deck off and on for the past month, though I've never played it at a tournament.  In my opinion, this deck gains strength in the current environment, where Mana Drain-based decks (especially Control Slaver) are at their height of power.  I particularly enjoyed the list that played Infernal Contract; the problem that I saw with the card is that it's at its best only during the combo turn.  Casting it off a Dark Ritual first turn because you have nothing else to do is admittedly weak.  I do wish that you had elaborated more on the Gifts and Control Slaver matchups, however.

IMHO, a few small changes to this list could add alot of power & consistency.  If you are siding out the suboptimal moxes in most of your matchups that should tell you something.  I would also cut the 4th Chromatic Sphere and the 4th Cabal Ritual.  The mana fixing of C.Sphere is not as crucial in a 2 color deck and Cabal Ritual is best with Threshold, so seeing more than 1 in your opening hand is not that desirable.

I think you're missing how the deck is represented.  The deck does not necessarily want to become more powerful and consistant, if it means lowering the Turn 1 kill percentile.  One of the concepts behind Meandeck Tendrils is having one mana generate one card and one storm.    Chromatic Sphere isn't present just for mana fixing, but rather the card and the storm it provides. 

[Tobi]

I personally play GrimLong quite a bit, and I don't particularly detest my Stax matchup.  It's slightly better than this decks matchup, because I often can just play an EOT Rebuild or Hurkyl's and then go off.

Well, that's exactly what this deck does when Stax manages to hold it off for some turns (see my last tournament report). GrimLong has the disadvantage of the weaker manabase, but it plays ESGs to compensate for that.

IMHO, a few small changes to this list could add alot of power & consistency.  If you are siding out the suboptimal moxes in most of your matchups that should tell you something.  I would also cut the 4th Chromatic Sphere and the 4th Cabal Ritual.  The mana fixing of C.Sphere is not as crucial in a 2 color deck and Cabal Ritual is best with Threshold, so seeing more than 1 in your opening hand is not that desirable.

-2 ChromeMoxDiamond
-1 Chromatic Sphere
-1 Cabal Ritual

+2 Grimm tutor
+1 Windfall
+1 Underground Sea

By adding the extra land you make up for cutting the moxes and gain a bit of consistency.  However, I would still keep the extra basics in your SB for the Stax match up.  Grimm Tutor really can't be ignored, it's simply to powerful.  I don't think this build necessarily needs more than 2 as you run multiple Tendrils.  Windfall is just icing on the cake and really belongs here if in any deck.

In the first game I want to combo out as fast as possible. Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond help a lot here. I only side them out when my opponent tries to attack my manabase, but that doesn't mean the cards are bad 

Windfall did never look appealing to me. It is good sometimes, and sometimes not. If I had Grim Tutors, I would not play it at all.

Your suggestions are to cut 2 mana sources for expensive cards, which may not be a good idea. I am not sure what I would take out for Grim Tutors. The Cromatic Spheres look like the weakest cards in the deck, but without them, Imperial Seal gets much weaker. Must be tested.

I've experimented with this deck off and on for the past month, though I've never played it at a tournament.  In my opinion, this deck gains strength in the current environment, where Mana Drain-based decks (especially Control Slaver) are at their height of power.  I particularly enjoyed the list that played Infernal Contract; the problem that I saw with the card is that it's at its best only during the combo turn.  Casting it off a Dark Ritual first turn because you have nothing else to do is admittedly weak.  I do wish that you had elaborated more on the Gifts and Control Slaver matchups, however.

Infernal Contract is not too bad if played off a Ritual first turn, even if you need to pass. It happened quite often to me, and it never was a problem. 10 life for 4 cards, who cares? 

The matchup against Mana-Drain based decks showed that these deck only have a chance if they a) have FoW in their opening hand (or Duress if they go first) and b) enough card draw to keep control of the game. It usually was a turn-wise presentation of threats the control player could not handle anymore at some point, comparable to how Belcher won against control.

[And11]

First of all, thanks a lot for the primer. I really enjoyed it.

However, I like your old version better (not draw7-, but Infernal Contract-fueled packing Brainstorm and bouncers in the board) and this deck won me half a Mox a few months back (thx btw. ). I've done some testing with this new version, but seemed to fizzle out "a lot". By that I mean casting a draw7, drawing into crap (not good enough to win on the spot), passing the turn and being killed by locks/infinte counters+Duress/Meddlers/whatever or having my 1st turn threat Forced and then drawing into my Forces and multiple winconditions. That's why I liked Night's Whisper in the old build. That version was of course a turn slower at times, but was able to set up for a "secure" 3rd turn and still didn't need to worry about Mana Drain/Force/Duress to take care of my only threat (full grip+Duress). I definately agreed (guess you've changed your mind ) that was the way to go for storm-combo (one-sided card draw instead of risky draw7s), but if you're kicking butt with this, it must be pretty consistent in the hands of its' creator at least.

Also, I loved the aggressive maindeck with no random answers that are getting in the way more often than they're bouncing Chalices/Spheres. I think you're way too careful in this build, trying to be able to beat everything pre-board. But then again, blue cards had to be included and there aren't many playable action-cards besides Windfall left. And about that Force vs. Duress-debate; card vs. card, of course it's better paying zero mana than 1, but IMO it will partly destroy your deck-design by forcing you to play random sub-optimal stuff and narrow answers like CoV and H.Recall.

The Contract-packing version worked very well for me, even against Stax, so I am asking you; Why did you discard the Infernal Contract as an engine for this deck? If it's because of Force of Will > Duress only, that would really surprise me.

Thanks again,
/Andreas, Denmark.

[That0neguy]

In the FOW vs Duress debate why not Unmask in the draw 4 version (assuming the reason for the switch was the disruption package)?  If you are already running FOW that means you are 2/1ing yourself for cards already but here you would have had more black cards so essentially duress would have been free just like FOW.  Also if this really matters Unmask gives less drain mana.

[Tobi]

First of all, thanks a lot for the primer. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you! 

Also, I loved the aggressive maindeck with no random answers that are getting in the way more often than they're bouncing Chalices/Spheres. I think you're way too careful in this build, trying to be able to beat everything pre-board. But then again, blue cards had to be included and there aren't many playable action-cards besides Windfall left. And about that Force vs. Duress-debate; card vs. card, of course it's better paying zero mana than 1, but IMO it will partly destroy your deck-design by forcing you to play random sub-optimal stuff and narrow answers like CoV and H.Recall.

CoV and Hurkyl's Recall are not only narrow answers, but oftentimes very important cards to enable the critical storm count. So they are perfect, serving to help your combo and to handle problematic permanents as well.
The two cards were already maindeck before FoW found its way into the deck.

The Contract-packing version worked very well for me, even against Stax, so I am asking you; Why did you discard the Infernal Contract as an engine for this deck? If it's because of Force of Will > Duress only, that would really surprise me.

Bascially the answer is yes. But then, Infernal Contract had 2 major problems:
1. It needed you to spend Rituals for being cast. Now this produces two more problems:
1.1 Without Ritual, Contracts become dead cards.
1.2 When countered, you lose the Ritual and the Contract and 2 storm. If you even wanted to have black mana after the Contract and cast 2 Rituals and Contract, then you lose 3 cards and have 2 black mana left (though this would have been a dumb move  )
2. You lose half your life. Normally this is not a problem, but if you happen to play against other Tendrils combo like TPS, which is everywhere now, you make it significantly easier for them to kill you, if you need to pass the turn, which sometimes happens.

Draw-7 stuff is sometimes tricky to play. As a rule of thumb you could say, never play a draw 7 without mana left. If you have a black mana, blue or even both still floating, you will normally win.

In the FOW vs Duress debate why not Unmask in the draw 4 version (assuming the reason for the switch was the disruption package)? If you are already running FOW that means you are 2/1ing yourself for cards already but here you would have had more black cards so essentially duress would have been free just like FOW. Also if this really matters Unmask gives less drain mana.

Unmask doesn't do the same as FoW. You cannot counter opponent's threats if he goes first, and against combo, you cannot interfere if he plays draw-7. And FoW can produce storm count. I had situations where my opponent's counter targeting my Yawgmoth's Will, plus my FoW targeting his counter gave me the necessary storm count to win. Duress would not have helped me here, and well as Unmask.

Granted, Unmask may have a place in a mono-black Tendrils list with draw-4s, where you can cast Umask and Contract off a single Ritual.

[Btown]

Hey

First time poster Here 

I must say this is the first full post ive read since becoming a member of TMD and I am very impressed.  Im not only new here, but to the Vintage community in general.  Being a long-time competetive player, Im quite interested in jumping in head first and learning a new format, and who could refuse playing a deck like this!  Frankly, Intuition Tendrils was one of my primary draws to come (back) to vintage, and well horden tendrils just looks more fun.  Great Primer, and I look forward to contributing to its evolution after I do some testing

-Ryan